The Inevitability of a Mobile-Only Customer Experience

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Customers are becoming increasingly mobile, and, as a result,
the customer journey is in need of an overhaul. In May 2014,
mobile platforms accounted for 60% of total digital media time
spent.1 Mobile spending is correspondingly increasing to match
customer behavior, with mobile devices accounting for one in four
of all online purchases in November 2014.2 Although companies
understand the importance of mobile, it is Altimeter Group’s
belief that brands both underestimate and underinvest in mobile’s
promise. In our latest research into the evolving landscape of
digital transformation and the digital customer experience, we
learned that an understood and unified mobile strategy remains
largely elusive to many executives and strategists.
In this report, Altimeter Group focuses on how organizations can
approach mobile design strategy through the lens of the evolving
connected customer. By focusing on activities and outcomes with
an understanding of consumer needs, objectives, and behaviors,
companies are able to see past mobile as the latest “bright,
shiny object.”
Companies that invest in mobile-first programs will lead.
Sophisticated companies are beginning to explore a mobile-only
approach in addition to integrating cross-channel strategies with
omni-channel experiences. By following the four steps to building
customer-centric mobile strategies outlined in this report, leaders
can evolve mobile beyond being “just” another digital screen
or channel to achieve greater business results. This will radically
enhance the customer experience by making it more intuitive
and native.
1

KEY FINDINGS
1
4
Mobile is treated
as only part of
CX, not a holistic
experience. This leads
to low budget and
staff allocation, forcing
unnecessary cross-channel
and/or multiscreen
experiences.
To win among
mobile- and
digital-first
customers, organizations
must focus on learning
more about the customer
frustrations, expectations,
and behaviors specific
to mobile.
2
5
When companies
focus too much
on a medium’s
technology, they lose
sight of what the intended
customer experience
should be among
consumers who see
mobile as part of
their lifestyle.
Strategists must
re-imagine the
mobile-first customer
journey as it could be,
benchmarking against
new opportunities vs. the
current status quo.
3
6
Organizations that
operate under a
mobile-first agenda,
driven from the C-suite
and led by a passionate
change agent, reap
rewards in greater
customer engagement,
satisfaction, advocacy, and
more.
Once mobile
becomes a part
of a company’s
DNA, it is no longer
treated as a “bolt-on” to
existing digital initiatives;
it’s a natural first step
in customer experience
strategy development.
2

`
BRANDS THAT SEE MOBILE AS
THE “SECOND SCREEN” RISK LOSING RELEVANCE
WITH CONNECTED CUSTOMERS
Mobile, once regarded as the second screen, is rapidly
becoming the first screen for many connected customers.
According to comScore, which uses the “time spent” metric
to gauge online consumer retail activity, 56% of all time spent
on U.S. online retail occurs on a mobile device.3 Yet only 16%
of companies strongly agree they are completely prepared to
meet customers’ mobile expectations.4 To keep up with and
anticipate needs, brands must recognize that mobile is now
integral to their customers’ lifestyle.
A mobile-first approach is a way of business at Citi. In an
interview with Andres Wolberg-Stok, Global Head of Emerging
Platforms and Services, he revealed, “Citi approaches digital
initiatives as ‘mobile first’ to improve their customers’ lives; then
zooms out in strategy from there.” Mobile as the customer’s
first screen is a reality, and companies must both adapt their
current strategies and begin thinking proactively in order to
maintain relevancy, competitiveness, and even survival.
Too often companies are stuck playing catch-up to rising
consumer expectations around mobile experiences. To
paraphrase hockey great Wayne Gretzky, rather than predicting
“where the puck is going to be,” they instead skate to where
the puck lies now or, in some cases, where it was before.
Citi’s Wolberg-Stok explains the need to shift perspective
and digital investments toward mobile: “A few years ago, we
thought that customers would just go to the desktop for the
full menu of functions, not mobile, but increasingly that’s not
holding true. Customer expectations have changed. They used
to be more understanding if certain features weren’t part of
your mobile app, but now they expect to do whatever they
want, whenever and wherever they want to do it. ”
Consumers are quickly learning to
operate in a mobile-only world.
One-third of shoppers use mobile exclusively, and more
than half consider mobile the most important resource in the
purchase decision process.5
Keeping up is just the beginning. What lies ahead isn’t just a
mobile-ready customer experience. That becomes commodity.
Businesses are required to invest in mobile-first and even
mobile-only customer journeys. The idea of mobile-only design
is a game-changer, and we believe it is becoming the
new standard.
3

“Customer expectations
have changed. They used
to be more understanding if
certain features weren’t part
of your mobile app, but now
they expect to do whatever
they want, whenever and
wherever they want to do it.”
-Andres Wolberg-Stok,
Global Head Emerging Platforms
and Services, Citi
4

MISUNDERSTANDING OR UNDERESTIMATING MOBILE
FRACTURES THE DIGITAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Customer experience is defined as the sum of
all customer engagements in each touchpoint
and in each “moment of truth” throughout the
customer lifecycle.
The customer journey is a patchwork of
traditional and digital touchpoints, some
mobile-optimized. When consumers jump
between channels and devices, it can easily
lead to an inconsistent customer experience.
Brands must rethink mobile’s role in the
customer journey, particularly where and how
it can become self-sustaining for a mobile-only
consumer.
“It’s a continual
challenge to deliver
comprehensive
solutions while
delighting
customers by
fulfilling core needs
from their mobile
experience.”
Intuit strives to keep up with rising consumer
expectations around mobile experience.
Colette Crosby, Director of Marketing, told us,
“Even when we’re doing really well with a web
app, we have to remember that customers
begin to expect that same range of capabilities
from mobile native web as well. It’s a continual
challenge to deliver comprehensive solutions
while delighting customers by fulfilling core
needs from their mobile experience.”
On the brand side, different groups manage
disparate touchpoints, each with its own
-Colette Crosby
processes, resources, and metrics. The
Director of Marketing,
result is a lack of integration and continuity
Intuit
in the customer journey, forcing customers
Mobile is both part of the customer experience
to multiscreen between devices and hop
and also emerging as a self-contained
channels to move along the journey.
experiential platform. Yet many companies
Sometimes, customers can do so effectively.
continue to treat mobile either as just another
Many times they cannot. This essentially introduces friction
channel, a technology platform, or a portable version of
into the customer experience when there’s no need for
the web. Meanwhile, consumer expectations are evolving
friction to exist. In reality, competitive alternatives are just a
to demand dedicated mobile experiences that go beyond
quick click away. Organizations must focus on architecting
mobile-optimized websites, landing pages, content for
mobile experiences that are both self-contained (beginning
the smaller screen, or basic branded apps, all for the
to end) and also complementary to the digital customer
sake of being present. Such incomplete or subpar mobile
journey at large.
experiences negatively impact the mobile customer journey
or, at the very least, frustrate users.
5

Rather than re-imagine the mobile
experience to align with customer
expectations, most companies:
1
Create campaigns with a mobile-first
element and then push customers
toward outdated or mismatched
experiences once they’re beyond the
initial engagement phase.
2
Design mobile landing pages without
adapting the next steps of the
connected customer journey.
3
Deploy mobile transaction or commerce
engines that are not inherently mobile or
gesture-based.
4
Develop apps that do not meet
customer needs or wants.
5
Miss the ability to integrate mobile with
real-world experiences, such as beacon
technology in physical settings or loyalty
programs.
Businesses must first master the former in order
to compete for the latter. Mobile should be
treated as a separate device and screen from
the desktop, capable of delivering a nextgeneration, mobile-native customer experience.
6

COMPANIES MUST DESIGN MOBILE-FIRST AND
MOBILE-ONLY CUSTOMER JOURNEYS
TO PREVENT CHANNEL-HOPPING AND
MULTI-SCREENING AND INCREASE CONVERSIONS
The mobile journey is comprised of many touchpoints that span multiple screens.
According to Pew Research Center, 58% of American adults own a smartphone; 32% own
an e-reader; and 42% own a tablet.6 Of those who own multiple devices, 30% cite their
tablet as being the most important device they own for Internet access, with laptops and
smartphones at 29% and 22%, respectively.7 “Mobile” is a term that must be explicitly
defined for a target audience and the strategy it informs. It’s not just a phone.
Altimeter learned many organizations confuse the very differences between channel and
platform strategies, thus dividing the potential for truly omni-channel strategies.
58%
of American adults
own a smart phone
42%
Channel-hopping refers to a customer switching channels (e.g., desktop website, mobile
website, smartphone app, iPad app, print magazine, etc.) when the preferred channel for
engagement does not satisfy their needs. Multi-screening refers to a customer switching
devices — screens — to continue or complete a task. Multi-screening takes two formats:
1. Simultaneous multi-screening (e.g., looking at a tablet while watching TV), and;
2. Sequential multi-screening (using a smartphone in an Uber, a laptop at home).8
While the two can overlap if a consumer switches both screens and channels, they aren’t
one in the same and often occur under different circumstances and contexts.
own a tablet
32%
own an
e-reader
7

This leads to companies missing new and more engaging opportunities to
deliver the unique, self-contained mobile experiences that customers desire.
For example, a smartphone is capable of hosting a complete end-toend journey, starting with discovery through transaction and loyalty,
as well as unlocking new online-to-offline opportunities, such as
mobile payment systems. Instead of capitalizing on this mobile-only
opportunity for engagement, mobile CX investments are currently made
around the context of engagement (where and when it will be used),
requiring users to focus on channels that allow specific functionality,
such as a mobile site featuring responsive design, mobile commerce,
or a management app such as mobile banking. When the user requires
something outside of that specific scenario, they’re forced to multiscreen,
making them either channel-hop within the device or abandon it altogether
for a different (and often dated) screen or user experience.
90
%
of consumers move
between devices to
accomplish a goal
Thus, mobile designers unwittingly compel multi-screening when designing
touchpoints along the customer journey rather than creating an entirely selfcontained mobile experience to foster desired outcomes and conversion.
Some 90% of consumers move between devices to accomplish a goal, using
an average of three different screen combinations each day.9 This represents a
significant missed opportunity, especially when examining mobile conversion.
Fifty-one percent of consumers abandon their mobile cart and close the app
when they struggle with it, and, according to comScore, only 16% of mobile
search-driven purchases occurred on the phone itself in 2014.10
These self-inflicted customer experience challenges are attributed to a
misunderstanding of mobile customers and also what’s possible vs. what’s
expected on new devices.
Brands believe their customers hop from one channel to the next throughout
their journey due to reasons outside of their control, e.g., reluctance to
8

enter financial information in an app, low attention spans, or
incomplete mobile website functionality. When brands blame
outside factors rather than their own mobile experiences, the
result is a misallocation of internal resources toward creating
mirrored experiences at different touchpoints.
As such, mobile is a “checkbox” at worst
and an advanced experience for specific
scenarios as part of an omni-channel
strategy at best, not necessarily a
native, holistic experience.
prepare organizations for the onslaught of mobile technology
advancement that also varies greatly by device.
Cyril Lamblard, head of Business and Digital Marketing for
Nespresso, told us the company treats mobile as a bridge
between offline and online customer retail experiences to
ensure consistency and relevance from discovery
through conversion.
“Our
challenge is to make
the mobile experience
accessible to our customers
in the simplest, most
highly functional way while
maintaining a premium
brand experience.”
Lamblard elaborates, “Our customers
can start an order on-the-go and pick
up their coffee in a nearby boutique
offering a seamless experience.
Facebook famously tackled
Then, when in a physical
the dilemma between
boutique, they start to search on
desktop/laptop and mobile
their mobile for more product
user experience, essentially
information. Tomorrow, it should
recreating the mobile platform
be an optimized connector that
to deliver a native, fully capable
allows them to fast-track their
experience that’s better suited
in-store purchase experience,
to smartphones and tablets.
leveraging all recent innovations on
Cyril Lamblard, Head of Business and
Additionally, it designed an entirely
mobile payments. Our challenge is to
Digital Marketing, Nespresso
new advertising platform to monetize
make the mobile experience accessible
the updated mobile experience. The
to our customers in the simplest, most
company is experimenting with decoupling
highly functional way while maintaining a
and creating new Facebook features as apps to
premium brand experience.”
improve the mobile customer experience (CX), which is largely
independent of its desktop experience.
Mobile is not only reshaping the customer journey, it is
rebooting the entire experience in the process. How and when
Investing in a customer-centric mobile CX that’s unique to
customers transact with brands throughout the lifecycle is also
each platform represents an untapped trove for engagement
moving to the small screen — from research to purchase, to
throughout the customer journey and lifecycle. Doing so will
service and support, through loyalty and advocacy.
9

BRANDS FALL PREY TO “MEDIUMISM,”
PRIORITIZING SHINY OBJECTS OVER
CUSTOMER NEEDS AND GOALS
We discovered that many strategists responsible for mobile don’t always realize
the opportunities or real-world challenges mobile presents as part of the consumer
lifestyle. When focusing too much on the technology, they lose sight of what the
intended customer experience should be. This lends to mobile falling into the trap of
“mediumism,” or placing inordinate weight on the technology of any medium, rather
than amplifying platform strengths and conveying empathetic value propositions to
create desired experiences and outcomes.11
10

MEDIUMISM LEADS TO MISINFORMED, REACTIVE
INVESTMENTS IN CROSS-CHANNEL EXPERIENCES
A common symptom of mobile mediumism
is misinformed investment, often in either
reactive mobile optimization efforts or pouring
resources into tangential digital channels in
an effort to create a consistent cross-channel
experience. The problem lies in that, when
companies build new initiatives upon legacy
foundations, they’re already behind their
customers’ needs. This prevents companies
from embracing innovation and instead creates
a form of incrementalism — investment in
iterating on top of existing programs instead of
pursuing innovative initiatives specific to new
opportunities. Incrementalism carries notable
risks in that dissatisfied customers may jump to
a competitor who better understands
mobile experiences.
“We don’t
let new
technology use
cases dictate
what customer
problems
we’re
solving for.”
should remain considerations during the final
stages of mobile strategizing, as they represent
a means to an end, not the end in and of itself.
Alternately, some companies we studied
do approach mobile web and application
design from a customer-first perspective. This
has the potential to completely change the
product, experience, and outcome. Solving for
problems, needs, or opportunities can inspire
innovation in mobile CX.
Intuit, for example, understands the
importance of putting customer needs
Colette Crosby, Director
and pain points first, combined with
of Marketing, Intuit
business priorities, before the latest mobile
technologies. Colette Crosby, Director of
Marketing, explains: “We don’t let new
technology use cases dictate what customer problems
The opportunity for true mobile engagement starts
with the vision to see its potential beyond yet another
we’re solving for.” Technology is an enabler, not
technology platform. Elements of UX (user experience)
the solution, and thus mobile is a facilitator
design, including screen size, UI (user interface), usability,
for desired engagement and transactions
and responsive or adaptive design, are certainly
based on changing needs, expectations,
important in effectively designing and executing mobile
and goals of mobile customers.
strategies. Altimeter learned, though, that these elements
are often given more weight than consumer experience
and business goals. These technological implications
11

The same is true at MasterCard, where mobile begins with strategy
and ends with development. CMO Raja Rajamannar shared with
Altimeter an empathetic approach to mobile: “First, our mobile
strategy team identifies customer pain points. Only then do we move
on to the next level of mobile development and conceptualizing in
order to ensure we’re solving for the right problem.” This allows for
opportunities to redesign the customer journey by formulating new
mobile-centric touchpoints and outcomes.
When businesses design for mobile screens and also the people who
use them as their first screen, they improve customer experience in
the process. It’s a symbiotic relationship, with both the customer and
the brand as beneficiaries.
“First, our
mobile strategy team
identifies customer
pain points. Only then do
we move on to the next level
of mobile development and
conceptualizing in order to
ensure we’re solving for
the right problem.”
Raja Rajamannar, CMO,
Mastercard
Technology is most effective when it is invisible,
allowing consumers to accomplish tasks without
getting lost or hindered by old-school touchpoints.
This is true at Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, a company
that consistently focuses on being ahead of its customers who
require immediate, real-time assistance from pre-checkin through
checkout. It achieves this through an intent focus on customer data
(via login and a popular loyalty program, Starwood Preferred Guest),
rapid mobile development, and personalization of the mobile
experience. Starwood’s mobile-first thinking led to the creation of
SPG Keyless, a room entry system that allows guests to use the SPG
app on their smartphones (in the future, Apple Watch) as a room
key. This is another step Starwood is taking toward creating a mobile
experience that is self-contained throughout the entire journey, not
just one cog of the check-in experience.12
12

A NEW GENERATION OF MOBILE DEVICES
REPRESENTS THE NEW FRONTIER IN MOBILE CX
While mobile is widely recognized among executives
and strategists as an important channel, it’s how mobile
behavior is assimilated and how insights are woven into
digital strategies that demand immediate attention.
Mobile devices are as capable as PCs, yet are regarded
as a “smaller” version of the desktop experience
with limited functionality, content, and navigation
points. From a UX perspective, everything
about mobile design is different. Smaller
screens yield less real estate, and the pointand-click PC user interface isn’t how users
interface with mobile devices. From swiping
to spreading, pinching to tapping, users
expect to navigate intuitively on each
mobile device they use and be presented
with a natural and intuitive journey that
reflects their behavior and aspirations. The
mobile journey is just starting to come into focus, and
smartphones and tablets are only two of many screens
driving transformation in the customer journey.
Our research reveals strategists most often equate
“mobile” to “smartphone” when crafting strategies,
often without considering devices such as tablets and
wearables or up-and-comers like the smartwatch. Twenty
percent of American adults already own a wearable
device,13 and tablets are projected to outpace sales
of PCs in 2015.14 When businesses don’t consider
differences in mobile device interaction, they’re left with a
one-size-fits-all approach to mobile that doesn’t account
for nuances of engagement, context, and intention that
vary greatly from one platform to the next.
Additionally, mobile commerce no longer
means just the ability to transact on the mobile
screen; it now also represents the ability for
the device to become the payment. Mobile
payment technology is advancing rapidly,
including the recent launch of Apple Pay and
its massive push toward mobile payments.
eMarketer projects mobile transaction values
will double from EOY 2013 to EOY 2014 to
reach $3.5 billion and further accelerate through
2016 as “more users come on board and make
increasingly larger mobile purchases.” This trend forces
businesses to rethink commerce strategies at mobile,
web, and real-world levels. Whole Foods, Walgreens,
and Starbucks are each investing heavily in the mobile
experience in-store to integrate information, shopping,
payments, and loyalty programs. Nearly 15% of Starbucks
customers already pay with their phones,15 and Walgreens
reports mobile wallet payments have doubled since the
launch of Apple Pay.16
13

At the same time, in-store opportunities also arise as a result of
the changing mobile landscape. New low-energy signals, such as
Apple’s iBeacon and Samsung’s Proximity, are contributing to new
in-store mobile connections that surprise and delight customers
by marrying experiences to mobile lifestyles. More than half of the
top 100 retailers are already strategizing around in-store beacons
to improve the shopping experience,17 and ABI Research estimates
that over the next five years the iBeacon hardware market will grow
to approximately 60 million units.18
60M
units growth over
the next 5 years of
iBeacon hardware
maket
In an interview with Old Navy’s Marketing, Mobile CEM Lead
Jennifer Bordner, she shared that the retailer is currently
Nearly
experimenting with Beacon technology with a foundation
in customer research to determine its potential for
enhancing the shopping experience. “Our true north
is looking toward how people interact with beacon
of Starbucks customers
technology as it stands now,” she elaborates. “What
already pay with their
makes the most natural sense to them in a retail
phones, and Walgreens
setting in relation to technology? We’re testing new
reports mobile wallet
technology to see what’s too much for our customers,
payments have doubled
what’s not enough, and if people even care about push
since the launch of
communication from beacons.”
15%
Apple Pay
A natural response to this developing mobile landscape from
brands is that of being overwhelmed or confused. The multitude
of form factors and channels indeed forces brands to design
campaigns and build out touchpoints that extend or diversify
current investments.
14

INABILITY TO TRACK MOBILE ROI
CRIPPLES THE BUSINESS CASE FOR
CUSTOMER-CENTRIC MOBILE EXPERIENCES
Without proof of mobile customer conversion, strategists
struggle to rally internal support and funding. Proving
results can be difficult when consumers channel-hop during
a digital journey. Without associating customers with a
unique ID via log-in, loyalty program, or a related identifier,
change agents can’t prove mobile conversion, or that
mobile is a contributor to conversion on another digital
channel, later in the customer journey. This forced behavior
gives businesses the false impression that customers
prefer a multiscreen experience.
Jeremy Lockhorn, VP of Emerging Media at
global digital agency Razorfish, sees this
problem as a major hurdle for many of its
clients. “We refer to this as the ‘mobile gap.’
It’s difficult to see if mobile influenced a
purchase that happened on another channel
if there’s no log-in involved. They’re treated
as different people in conversion metrics,” he
told us. Despite the contribution to the bottom
line, it’s not possible to prove mobile’s role in
the transaction and make a case to increase
mobile investment.
Robyn Phelan, Senior Interactive Marketing Manager for the
Palms Casino Resort, also works to provide mobile proof
points. “Our biggest challenge is the need to see revenue
and conversion going through in mobile, which we can’t
attribute due to cross-platform channel-hopping and dropoffs. We can measure attribution somewhat with tracking
mobile advertising’s contribution to conversion, which has
helped to prove the value of mobile to leadership.” Thus the
problem perpetuates, and mobile remains under-appreciated
in both its capability today and also future potential.
Our previous research on digital transformation found a
similar Catch-22 as strategists try to make the case
to prioritize investment in new digital fronts.
Executives require results to approve funding,
yet funding is required for processes and
technologies to build the case. This is
especially true if no other mobile-specific
customer data exists within the organization.
Strategists are forced to benchmark against
lackluster efforts, citing metrics like CTR
and time spent on mobile, not attribution to
business goals.
Director of Development Mitch Bayersdorfer
elaborates on Intuit’s high-level approach to
finding the “sweet spot” in demonstrating ROI: “It’s a Venn
diagram of three elements around the art of what’s possible
based on 1. Customer needs, 2. Business priorities, and 3.
Device capabilities. We keep a laser focus on that intersection.”
15

CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE
NEEDS AN OWNER
TO OPTIMIZE
MULTIPLE
JOURNEYS,
CREATING ONE
FLUID AND
REMARKABLE
EXPERIENCE
The customer journey is often managed by different departments
that do not always collaborate on how to integrate and optimize the
experience. This is irrelevant to customers who don’t see departments;
they see a brand and demand a consistent experience. The same
disjointed inter-departmental relationships multiply in mobile CX,
as mobile is only a small piece of the overall puzzle with even fewer
resources than more proven digital counterparts.
Although 63% of digitally focused companies include mobile within
their digital centers of excellence,19 only 17% have a fully integrated
mobile strategy in the overarching marketing engagement strategy.20
Companies struggle further when competing in a tug-of-war between
“digital first” and “mobile first” philosophies. Both are important, as
customers are becoming more digital and mobile every day. As such,
mobile and digital strategies must be developed individually, while
also coming together to deliver a unified digital customer experience.
Mobile is most often positioned as a facet of digital marketing, itself
part of a larger marketing division. The organizational structure
supporting mobile strategy exists as a result of two factors:
1. An outdated, uninformed culture that views mobile as a
channel, not a lifestyle
2. Limited resources, support, and headcount to empower
mobile leaders to make decisions that align with customer
consumption habits
This buries mobile in slow-moving bureaucracy, unable to nimbly adapt
to shifting customer expectations. When mobile is aligned with a single
department, other groups must work in isolation and thus complicate or
degrade the customer journey. Companies must establish collaborative
relationships between each level of the digital hierarchy in order to adapt
quickly to changes in mobile customer behavior.
16

Yamaha’s Jeff Hawley, Director of Customer Experience,
told us that the company’s CX group acts much like
an internal agency to other departments to ensure the
customer experience remains consistent with every new
strategy and initiative. He states, “No one
department can operate in a vacuum,
mobile included, or CX falls quickly.”
One way companies like Intuit overcome
hurdles in mobile hierarchies is through
establishing a “mobile working group”
that moves beyond more common digital
centers of excellence where mobile is
only a part of the equation. Mobile work
groups oversee all initiatives related to
mobile to ensure a customer-centric focus
is maintained. If a CX department exists
within a company, it is also in lock-step
with the mobile working group in order to
maintain alignment. The CX department
may also act as an advisor between siloes
if no mobile working group or formal
mobile department exists.
shift and headcount is added.
Once companies have fully embraced mobile as part
of their customer’s lifestyle, they embrace it at their
core. This is true at the most mobile mature companies
we interviewed, including Zappos, where
mobile has a dedicated team of at least 10
employees: analysts, researchers, quality
assurance, and more.
“Customer
experience needs
to be seamless
regardless of point
of entry. At Zappos,
we approach mobile
customer experience
as just customer
experience, not
differentiating it,
because mobile is
simply who we are.”
Kedar Deshpande,
Often, a mobile working group also acts as
Head of Mobile, Zappos
a powerful internal lobbying organization
to showcase mobile’s importance
to leadership, as well as provide the
manpower needed to consistently keep
tabs on customer experiences and analyze
related data. No company we interviewed has a central
repository of mobile information, an area for growth in
coming years to remain efficient and informed as roles
This additional resource allocation allows
mobile strategies to move beyond
reactivity and into the realm of proactively
architecting experiences for the future.
Kedar Deshpande, head of Mobile at
Zappos, explains this deep integration:
“Customer experience needs to be
seamless regardless of point of entry. At
Zappos, we approach mobile customer
experience as just customer experience,
not differentiating it, because mobile is
simply who we are.”
Zappos’ dedicated CX and customer service
teams also work closely with its mobile team
to maintain cohesion in experience — a
crucial component to boosting positive
sentiment, as 82% of consumers say the
number one factor that leads to a great
customer experience is having their support
issues resolved quickly.21
17

4
FOUR STEPS TO CREATING
MOBILE-FIRST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES
To win among mobile- and digital-first customers, organizations must focus on
learning more about customer frustrations, expectations, and behaviors specific to
mobile. When done in parallel to other digital investments, mobile (in each of its
forms) becomes an experience unto itself. Accordingly, strategists must apply those
insights to architecting an ideal mobile state. Only then can customer-driven mobile
strategy truly become part of a company’s DNA and produce results that include
increased engagement, lead generation, sales, Net Promoter Score (NPS), customer
retention, acquisition, loyalty, and more.
We’ve identified four steps to create customer-centric mobile strategies (see Figure 1):
18

Fig. 1:
FOUR STEPS TO CREATING MOBILE-FIRST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES
1: Map the
Journey
Study the mobile customer journey as it exists,
including devices used, challenges, and
opportunities. Delve into mobile customer
data to define mobile personas that
will inform strategies.
3: Measure
and Optimize
Define intended customer responses and
outcomes at each step. Link back to business
goals and KPIs to measure progress and
optimize engagement.
2: Re-Imagine a
Mobile Experience
Design a mobile-optimized journey,
by device, to win each moment of truth.
Define a series of mobile experiences at
each stage, aligning with customer
personas and data.
4: Align
Everything & Everyone
Present customer findings, the mobile-first
journey, and key business outcomes to the
greater working team around mobile, digital,
and CX. Run pilots to validate research and
gain support.
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Step 1:
Map the Mobile
Customer
Journey.
Study the mobile customer journey
as it exists today, including various
devices used, challenges, and
opportunities with each. Delve
into data specific to your mobile
customers to define “day-in-the-life”
mobile personas that will inform
customer-centric strategies.
Mobile centricity requires information about customers and their
mobile behaviors, and then uses that information for mutual gain.
Nearly half of today’s marketers (43%) don’t know their customers’
mobile behaviors.22 Without a deep understanding of mobile
customers, companies can’t effectively architect mobile experiences
that contribute to creating loyal relationships or producing advocacy.
Companies that make mobile a top priority, like Rent the Runway,
begin the mobile strategy process with customer journey mapping,
narrowing in on digital behaviors and channels. Sara Bial, Chief
Product Officer, explains, “We begin with customer research on their
mobile usage patterns and behaviors. That’s critical to designing
a mobile experience that is optimized to their expectations.” It’s
equally, if not more, important to know why customers are channelhopping in and out of mobile as it is to know when they are and where
they’re going.
Once brands truly understand the Digital Customer Experience
(DCX) and mobile’s role within it, they can begin to design for the
experience customers want rather than solely what technology
permits. This creates an entire shift in who companies design for and
what problems are solved.
Our digital transformation research found many organizations skip
this critical first step to understand mobile customers’ motivations,
engagement patterns, and expectations: A mere 25% of companies
have completely mapped the customer journey to better understand
underperforming digital touchpoints.
Zappos learns how its customers’ mobile behaviors and expectations
outpace current organizational infrastructures. Zappos’ journey
mapping department is dedicated to understanding every step of the
customer experience, looking closely at customer behaviors on and
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between channels and screens before
embarking on any new project.
Using Altimeter’s Dynamic Customer
Journey framework (see Figure 2),
map the answers to the following
questions to the corresponding
point within the decision loop. Once
completed, companies will have a full
picture of where they’re connecting
with mobile customers today, where
they’re not, and what opportunities
exist for future mobile engagement
along the journey.
Mobile Journey Questions:
• What touchpoints do they frequent during formulation,
pre-commerce, commerce, and post-commerce? How
often, and for how long?
Intuit found, through longitudinal research on mobile usage
patterns, its customers spend a lot of time pre-commerce in
choosing a financial app. Knowing this isn’t a spur-of-the-moment
decision informs product and feature development, as well as
marketing strategy.
• How do they use each touchpoint during the purchase
decision cycle (what action is completed at each step)?
Orbitz uses focus groups and other hands-on research methods to
observe how customers use its mobile site and application before
building new products and features. The company conducts an
annual Mobile Bookers Study to dive deeper into the general
population’s mobile behavior within the travel industry.
• What devices are used to take the customer from
awareness through advocacy?
The answer may surprise you. Although 75% of shoppers shop
online, 30% of shoppers shop on a mobile device at least as much
as a computer.23
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Fig. 2:
ALTIMETER’S DYNAMIC CUSTOMER JOURNEY
The stages of the Dynamic Customer Journey are familiar as they reflect similar methodologies in the traditional purchase funnel.
Each step is unique in the contributing factors for how consumers discover, analyze, choose, and share.24
2
3
Evaluation
PreCommerce
Commerce
Consideration
Purchase
Awareness
1
DIGITAL INFLUENCE LOOP
4
PostCommerce
Formulation
Advocacy
Understanding the mobile customer lifestyle is another
key element of journey mapping research. In addition
to gathering demographic, psychographic, and social
graphic data about mobile customers through surveying
or qualitative research methods, we recommend
Experience
Loyalty
strategists also pose the following questions in order to
build relatable personas for use in strategic targeting.
Customer persona research and modeling may be done
in-house or in partnership with an experienced vendor,
depending on resource allocation.
22

The Top Mobile Persona Questions to
Ask and Answer
• What uniquely defines our mobile customers?
MasterCard focuses on digital and mobile customers’ many “passion
categories” (music, for example) to create experiences that are most
meaningful at each touchpoint.
• What is different about their customer journey?
Yamaha discovered that by turning a high-priced electronic musical
instrument, the Tenori-on, into an iPad app, they could reach more customers
and tap into their mobile lifestyle needs in a manner that can ultimately result
in higher sales.
• What are their expectations, what do they value, and how do
they define success?
Citi sees three layers of customer expectations in its research: 1. Explicit
requests (things they need), 2. Diffused needs they have trouble verbalizing
(the experience isn’t as intuitive as another app they frequently use, for
example), and 3. Unperceived or hidden needs (only discovered once Citi
provides the solution, proactively). According to Wolberg-Stok, the third
layer is “the apex of the value pyramid.”
• How are they influenced, and by whom? How and whom do
they in turn influence?
Answer this question at each point along the journey. The answer may vary at
different points in the purchase
decision cycle.
• How can you design for device or platform-specific journeys to
minimalize channel-hopping or multiscreening?
In our interviews, Nespresso’s
Lamblard shared that the
company regularly re-evaluates
its mobile strategy to ensure
alignment with evolving mobile
customer experience. Its CX
department manages all elements
of the customer experience,
starting with mobile, for new
customers. They revisit customer
personas and consistently
storyboard and test new ideas
for engagement to improve the
multi-screen experience, ensuring
it remains a fully functioning
“boutique in their pocket —
anytime, anywhere.”
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Step 2:
Re-Imagine
the MobileFirst Customer
Journey.
Design a mobile-optimized
journey, by device, to win in each
moment of truth and prevent multiscreening while also investing in
and complementing other channels.
Define a series of intended mobile
experiences at each stage of the
customer journey, aligning each with
customer personas and related data.
Once strategists map a foundational picture of their mobile
customers’ journey and create personas that accurately depict reallife mobile lifestyles, the next step is to architect the desired mobile
state. Remember that all mobile devices and their related experiences
are not created equally. Strategists must design for the channel
(web, app, etc.) platform (smartphone, tablet, or other) and unique
behaviors for each.
Begin with a deep dive into the areas where customers already
experience the brand on their devices, as these mobile moments
are already familiar. From there, we found that companies broaden
their purview to each touchpoint throughout the dynamic customer
journey, answering the following sample questions to guide the
mobile experience design process (see Figure 3).
Once the mobile journey has been thoroughly architected,
organizations move on to support each step with the customer data
gathered in step one. Altimeter Group finds brands most often
incorporate mobile customer data in two ways: known customers (via
unique ID, like a loyalty program or other login) and unknown (those
who are unidentifiable).
For both categories, data such as mobile usage, engagement, time
on app or mobile site, etc., are easily accessible data points that
can be tied to each step of the ideal mobile experience. For known
customers, brands are beginning to identify at what point during the
purchase decision cycle customers use mobile, when they jump to
another channel, and when/where they eventually convert to purchase.
This information is key to support why each step of the ideal mobile
experience is critical to keep customers on-channel and contained
throughout brand engagement, especially when 63% of all tablet
owners have purchased a product or service from their device, as have
39% of smartphone users.25
24

Fig. 3:
QUESTIONS TO GUIDE THE MOBILE EXPERIENCE ARCHITECTURE
What makes customers choose
your mobile experience over
other options at each moment of
truth?
How can your mobile experience
help your customers solve their
most pressing problems as they
traverse the journey loop?
How can your company
position itself as an expert
resource on-device?
How can you make the mobile
purchase process unique to
their mobile lifestyle?
How can you provide
the ability to access and provide
feedback along the purchase
decision journey?
How can you increase positive
sentiment and likelihood of
advocacy?
How will you combat the
mobile, digital, and social
interruptions along the mobile
journey?
How can you link online and
offline behavior?
How can you uniquely engage
customers during each phase?
How can you reward mobile
customers simply for being
mobile customers?
How can you introduce new
behaviors into the customer
journey, facilitated by new device
advancements?
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By looking deeper into customer insights,
beyond current behaviors, and toward desired
experiences, mobile strategies are quickly
moved from misinformed to engaging when
data analysis and predictive experience
mapping take center stage.
Old Navy conducts regular customer research
to map the customer journey — online and off-,
viewed holistically — and related personas.
Jennifer Bordner tells us the company uses
a variety of personal and group interview
tactics and “shop-alongs” to determine what
technology engagement segment customers
belong to. She then uses this information to
inform strategies around mobile couponing,
push notifications and messaging, application
development, content, mobile website
optimization, and more.
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Step 3:
Measure and
Optimize.
Define the intended customer
response and desired outcomes at
each step in the mobile customer
journey, by screen. Link back to
business goals and shorter term KPIs
to measure progress and optimize
engagement in each moment of truth.
To further architect mobile experiences, strategists must consider
what actions they desire customers to take at every step in the mobile
journey and how they will measure results. Defining these actions
and effectual returns from the onset creates the foundation for a
technology development roadmap when handing off plans to IT
designers and developers.
When companies benchmark against opportunity, they find a mobile
ROI that transcends popular metrics, such as click-through or app
downloads, is possible. These types of soft metrics are a result of
engagement, not engagement itself.
At companies that focus on mobile CX at the core of strategy
design, the most common business outcomes associated with
mobile customer experience include customer acquisition, customer
retention, and customer efficiency.26 Specific KPIs related to each
step of the customer journey, as well as to the overall mobile CX
engagement, are included in Figure 4. Brands must also consider
the ROI of not investing in native mobile experiences on these
important screens and channels, as manifested in the form of negative
sentiment, loss of revenue, diminished customer lifetime value, et al.
When defining desired business outcomes at each stage of the mobile
experience, it’s critical to consider existing digital, marketing, and
CX goals. Whenever possible, connect mobile initiatives to larger
strategies that move the needle toward business impact. Doing so
aids change agents in their quest for internal buy-in when they can
prove mobile’s contributions and standalone impact in a larger
digital strategy.
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This becomes especially important
at companies like Intuit with multiple
brands under a corporate umbrella.
Crosby explains,
“Mobile is broken into
separate departments by
brand at Intuit, with different
product teams creating
unique experiences. We need
alignment around adoption of
best practices and common
standards for performance
analytics in order to stay
coordinated. This makes our
mobile working group all the
more important to ensure
alignment and proper reuse of
services and components for
speed and economy of scale.”
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Step 4:
Create
Alignment
Through a
Test-and-Learn
Approach.
Present customer findings, the newly
minted mobile-first journey, and key
business outcomes to the greater
working team around mobile, digital,
and CX. Run a test pilot of the
roadmap to validate research and
ideas and gain internal support.
It’s important for mobile strategists to create internal alignment among
departments that currently collaborate around, contribute to, or otherwise
influence mobile strategy, particularly at companies that are not led by mobilefirst agendas. Doing so builds an internal groundswell in support of customercentric mobile experience design.
If mobile contributes to the company as a whole, or to the success of a
tangential department that already receives hefty funding, it deserves attention.
For example, 70% of mobile browser searches lead to action within an hour, and
90% of smartphone shoppers use their devices to buy products in-store.28
Forming strategic alliances with other groups — like digital, marketing,
advertising, search, or product development — can help prove mobile’s value
in customer satisfaction. Mobile working groups and digital CoEs can be
instrumental at this stage in providing the launch pad to get mobile noticed at
the C-level.
Once the greater mobile working team is in alignment, strategists move on to
testing and re-testing their mobile-first strategies both internally and externally.
At this stage, IT is pulled in to lead software and hardware development and
coding needed to execute on the architected mobile experience. It should be
noted that IT shouldn’t be out of the loop for Steps 1, 2, or 3. It’s important —
especially at organizations undergoing more formal digital transformation efforts
— for IT to have a seat at the table, sharing information that can better the
mobile customer experience.
Intuit fosters internal collaboration between IT and mobile via its CTO Dev
Group, which spun out of its mobile development team. The CTO Dev Group
is responsible for providing all infrastructures for application development,
ensuring that findings and innovations in different brand groups are
implemented in other departments. Once an initial pilot experience is built,
Intuit’s mobile leaders then run a final series of checks and balances to ensure
customer data, ideal mobile experience, and intended customer actions are in
alignment with the technological implementation.
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CONCLUSION
Mobile represents one of the greatest opportunities
for customer experience innovation. Across all popular
devices, as well as those set to disrupt the game,
mobile is a diverse ecosystem that requires dedicated
understanding and design. In the future, mobile, through
the sum of its parts, will become the standard for hosting
the customer journey. Investments today are grossly
underfunded to meet this growth trend.
Innovation, not only in technology
but also CX, is as inevitable
as it is promising.
True mobile leaders use customer challenges and
expectations to inspire — not hinder — their mobile
strategies. Once change agents and executives embrace
mobile as a core lifestyle of their consumers, it reaches
the company’s DNA level and is no longer treated as a
“bolt-on” to existing digital initiatives. It’s a natural first
step in customer experience strategy development.
When organizations evolve past treating mobile as a
channel, funding and resource allocation challenges
dissipate. Customer behavior and data represent secret
weapons to create truly engaging opportunities for
engagement on mobile devices that keep customers on
their respective screens, rather than force unnecessary
channel-hopping. Empathizing with customers by
understanding the role mobile plays at the core of their
lives, in the context of each moment and state of mind,
sparks innovation, not iteration. This lends to developing
experiences specific to the new first-screen that meet
and exceed needs and expectations while positively
impacting the bottom line — in digital and beyond.
Innovation begins from within.
And, it starts with recognizing
that mobile and the ecosystem
of devices that define it is both
a means and an end to incredibly
improved customer experiences. It
takes vision to see what’s possible,
courage to push against current
norms, and resilience to bring
together people and resources to
break new ground. Consumers will
reward your work accordingly.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
With thanks for support from: Jessica Groopman, Cheryl Knight, Shannon Latta, Charlene Li, Briana
Schweizer, and Christine Tran.
ALTIMETER GROUP
ADVISORY SERVICES
Altimeter is a research and consulting firm that helps companies understand and act on disruption.
We give business leaders the insight and confidence to transform their companies in the face of
disruption. In addition to publishing research, Altimeter Group analysts speak and provide strategy
consulting on trends in digital transformation, social business, data disruption and content marketing
strategy. Contact Leslie Candy at leslie@altimetergroup.com or 617-448-4769.
ABOUT THE
AUTHORS
CO-AUTHOR: JAIMY SZYMANSKI, SENIOR RESEARCHER
Jaimy Szymanski (@jaimy_marie) is a senior researcher with Altimeter Group, focusing on
how organizations adapt core strategies to serve the new “connected customer.” She has
developed multiple research artifacts on the topics of digital transformation, consumer
mobile, customer experience design, and social business strategy. Jaimy also assists with
advisory of Altimeter’s clients that are affected by emerging technologies.
CO-AUTHOR: BRIAN SOLIS, PRINCIPAL ANALYST
Brian Solis (@briansolis) is a principal analyst at Altimeter Group. He is also an awardwinning author, prominent blogger, and keynote speaker. Solis works with enterprise
organizations and technology vendors to research the state and direction of markets,
competitors, and customer behavior. Through the use of proven frameworks and best
practices, Solis analyzes trends, opportunities, capabilities, and areas for improvement to
align new media initiatives with business priorities.
EDITOR: REBECCA LIEB, ANALYST
Rebecca Lieb (@lieblink) is an analyst at Altimeter Group covering content strategy, and
digital advertising and media, encompassing brands, publishers, agencies and technology
vendors. In addition to her background as a marketing executive, she was VP and editorin-chief of the ClickZ Network for over seven years. For a portion of that time, she also
ran Search Engine Watch. She’s written two books on digital marketing: The Truth About
Search Engine Optimization (2009) and Content Marketing (2011).

ABOUT ALTIMETER GROUP
Altimeter is a research and consulting firm that helps companies understand and act on disruption.
We give business leaders the insig ht and confidence to transform their companies in the face of
disruption. In addition to publishing research, Altimeter Group analysts speak and provide strategy
consulting on trends in digital transformation, social business, data disruption, and content marketing
strategy. Contact Leslie Candy at leslie@altimetergroup.com or 617-448-4769.
OPEN RESEARCH
This independent research report was 100% funded by Altimeter Group. This report is published
under the principle of Open Research and is intended to advance the industry at no cost. This report
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